Recently we were stopped by two Dallas police officers who informed us of a city ordinance that prohibits our type of giving. They explained the reasons for the ordinance and told us that we could go to shelters to provide aid the homeless there.

But what I know is that the people we fed and gave dry blankets and coats to during the sleet and snow on Christmas day fared better after we left them. Cardboard boxes, that most of us would toss away without a second thought, are the only barrier between their bodies and the cold concrete.

While the reasons for the ordinance may feel justified to some, it seems unreasonably cruel to us.